A Heartening Upsurge in Authentic Grassroots Groups

The unmistakable wave of revulsion against Donald Trump includes a heartening upsurge in authentic grassroots groups, with names like Flippable, Run for Something, and a dozen more. It suggests that our Constitution will survive even Trump, and it represents a healing of American democracy.

But the wave is imperiled by an undertow of other groups that are mostly astroturf, with names like Americans for Prosperity and the other front organizations of the Koch brothers, Robert Mercer, and other far-right billionaires. Two of the legacies of this undertow are systematic voter suppression and gerrymandering.

Without gerrymandering, Democrats would already have about 20 more House seats, and hundreds more in state legislatures. Without gerrymandering, Democrats would have won control of the Virginia House of Delegates instead of being one or two seats short of a majority, pending recounts. The undertow gives Republicans a structural head start of about five points depending on the state.

Democrats may well beat that in 2018 and 2020. They could even take the presidency and win a working majority in both houses. But then comes the much harder task of undoing the structural tilt. That will be the work of a generation. And unless it succeeds, democracy will not fully return.